 Throughout the experiment the independent variable was the size of the container, which changed from trial to trial, but did not change due to any other variable.
Furthermore, the dependent variable throughout the experiment was the settlement patterns and behaviors of the antlions (myrmeleon immaculatus),  which was quantified through the nearest neighbor calculation, pit depth and width, and the number of cannibalized antlions.
The control trial of the experiment was the 32x32 trial, as it shows the spatial patterns and behaviors of the antlions with the most available space, limiting the effect of competition on settlement patterns, which qualifies it to be a good control group.
